Failing Fast

I'm reading a book now entitled "Subject to Change," written by the folks at Adaptive Path. The book is about putting the focus on the experience and systems of interaction a customer has with a product or service. So far, I've picked up nice insights such as the importance of context in coming up with product/service design and innovation.

I like what I've read so farm, but there's one part in the book that resonated with me. In the chapter about exploring what tradeoffs you should make when you develop your "experience strategy," someone from McDonald's innovation center said this:

It [the innovation center] allows us to fail fast so we don't invest in the wrong things.

Well, I'm not sure if  all companies can afford to build a lab or innovation center to try our new products, but what I like is the idea of "failing fast" -- failing sooner than later so that you can adjust and adapt to your situation.

I'm not saying everyone should aim for failure, but rather get the criticisms, poor results, and negative feedback of your actions, business, work, or projects as early as possible so you get to success equally faster. I'm looking at this in an optimistic lens because I believe the failure people encounter in life is finite, and success, big or small, will be achieved by an individual eventually.